


Temporarily Unavailable

by Milarussu



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Blood and Injury, Drinking, F/M, Gen, Pining, Street Kid V (Cyberpunk 2077), When I found out you could call Jackie after he dies...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28129155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milarussu/pseuds/Milarussu
Summary: This city of chrome and neon had taken so much.
Relationships: Female V/Jackie Welles
Comments: 3
Kudos: 85





	Temporarily Unavailable

“Jackie I got one question for you,” V shifted onto her right leg and leaned against the sink, “Why the hell is Mama Welles asking me about Maria. I told you about her last night and now Mama is asking me in the AM. Where is the loyalty, the secrecy. When I tell you something like that, you don’t just go tellin’ people. You owe me a drink. Call me back you son of a bitch.” She ended the call and sighed. It had been a long night. A long night that ended in a walk of shame right past Jackie’s bedroom. Sharing space with a friend was a new concept, one both delightful and invasive. V was used to being alone. Now she had the whole Welles family. She yanked on her jacket, hands suddenly unsure of what to do. Light poured in the window and neon lights beckoned her to the darkening streets. Grabbing her pistol, she checked the safety and tucked it into her waistband. It was going to be another long night. With Jackie at Misty’s it was sure to end with V more black and blue than her normal shade. Sighing, she opened the door and headed down the stairs. Night City called and so did chaos.

\--

V pulled herself back against the wall. Jacket shredded to shit and bleeding shoulder exposed, she let her head lull back against the brick. Oh this job had stank, stank to high heaven. She had taken it anyway. Alone. Now she was dealing with the consequences of that choice. It had been a shitshow. A shotgun blast had absolutely devastated her shoulder, bone exposed. Only one upside, the target was dead and in sight less than five feet away. Eyes scrolling she found Jackie’s contact in her phone. After the third ring she heard the automated tone.

“Took the Maslow gig. You were right. Went to shit, ah!” She exclaimed out in pain, “I am bleeding out in an alleyway. Come get me...please or send someone. Sending you the detes. Sorry for being a dick,” She added at the end. What an unremarkable way for someone like her to die. Left to bleed out in a back alley for her own arrogance. Lights were starting to blur, strangely it felt easier to breathe. Neon cascaded in halos of light. Closing her eyes for a minute, she didn’t even notice the gentle hands pulling here away from the brick wall. Finally a little bit of peace.

Turns out the peaceful life didn’t really agree and spit her out kicking and screaming as usual. Leaning over her was Viktor, the simple scent of his surgical soap filled her nose. When he noticed she was awake, he smiled down at her. There were few people in the world she liked more than Viktor. He was one of the last good souls in Night City.

“How am I looking doc?” She murmured. There was fogginess of painkillers flooding every system in her body. There was an underlying and distant ache, but it was just that. Viktor sat down on his rolling chair and crossed a leg.

“Like a woman who got shot twice, stabbed once, and nearly bled out on my doorstep.” He turned and checked her vitals, hands moving quickly. V chuckled and ran a hand across her tender torso. She let out a breathy laugh.

“Vik, what I think you meant to say is irresistible.” She shifted into a sitting position and her head swam. The look he sent her could only be described as withering. From the pinch brows to the deep frown, his disapproval of her flippancy was clear.

“You came very close to dying tonight,” Viktor told her, “I would count your lucky stars Jackie got to you when he did,” V cringed and rubbed a shaky hand across her face. Oh Jack was going to murder her. 

“How pissed is he?” She asked. Viktor didn’t answer, just jabbed a finger in the general direction of the stairs.

“He's upstairs with Misty. Why don’t you go find out,”

\--

“Jack, listen I know you're upset with me right now but I just want to hear your voice. This job, what Dex wants us to do, it is big. It is a big fuckin’ deal. I get that. I really really do.” V let out a long sigh and picked at a healing scab on her thigh, “But I want to make sure you and I don’t go into this half-cocked. People like us end up as corpses lining the streets or rotting in landfills. You mean too much to me for me to approach this guns blazing. Call me back. I love you,” She added at the end and promptly hung up. This was literally her worst nightmare. Dex had literally deposited a job on their laps with a hook so good no one could refuse. Yet she was cautious, always had been. That was what made her dynamic with Jackie work. He burned hot and fast; V, she just simmered. No one ever told you how much loving someone so much could be such a damn pain in the ass. Especially when that someone was stubborn, loving, and far too smart for his own good. That relationship, the one between her and Jackie, was one in a million. There was buzz at the corner of her eye. 1 unread message.  _ I hear you V _ . Another moment passed before another popped up.  _ Love ya too.  _

\--

V was under a table and staring at the wood. There were no more tears to cry. Now there was only rage and sorrow. She could still feel the blood on her neck, on her hands. Could still taste the copper on her tongue as she pleaded.The sensation of his lips pressing against her cheek as he said goodbye was an aching open wound. It would have been better if she had been the one to die. Jackie had so many people waiting...so many. She just had him. The funeral had been nearly unbearable. The words had just come tumbling out her mouth, a flood of agony. After, Viktor had held her as she sobbed into his shoulder. It had not been a celebration of his life. Not for her. It had been a funeral pyre for all of the things she wished she could say to him, all the joys of past adventures and the aches of her failure laid out bare. She pressed send before she could think. Hearing the secretary’s mechanical voice made V wanted scream and punch something.

“Hey...just got back from your funeral. God that seems awful to say. Half expected you to answer the phone and tell me the bullet really did scramble my brain. God, what would I give to hear your voice one last time, your laugh. Hell I would even let you yell at me,” She paused to take another swig from the bottle of tequila next to her, “Just wish it had been me. You could have gotten out of all of this shit, not fallen face first into it. Mama offered to let me move back in. She’s doing alright by the way. Never had much of a family, cept for you. Jack, I...don’t know what to do. But if you’re up there with the angels could you send some of them my way. I love you,” The words felt hollow in her throat as they reverberated throughout the room. V tipped the bottle back and drank until she felt nothing.

\--

The garage was empty. Jackets hung against one wall. Old magazines and scattered mementos were everywhere. It was odd to be here, without Misty. She knew, Misty knew. The two of them were smart women, women with an understanding. They both had gotten parts of Jackie that the other did not get to see. V fished through some drawers and found a number of things. Everything was tucked away with such care. On the final drawer, her heart stopped. Inside was a bottle of tequila and a picture. The bottle was not unlike the one she had placed at the ofrenda. Centzon was great, but what was more precious was the photo. Printed and fresh, in perfect condition. Jackie had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, nose clearly broken and eye black. His chin rested atop her head. V stood dwarfed by Jackie, lip split and fresh stitches above her brow. In the background Viktor looked on with disappointment. At the bottom in a messy hand were the words,  _ to a job well done _ . It was the night that they had tried to steal the Rayfeild. Thumbing over Jackie’s face, she felt her chest seize up. Oh how hopeful they had been.

Sitting down on the worn couch, V leaned back and breathed in the smell of the place. Leather and cloves. She looked at the photo. That had been the start to a journey. One that neither of them had expected. No one expected the two of them to get on as well as they did.

“You planned all of this didn’t you. I was thinking about all the failures and you were dreaming big. Funny that,” She laughed slightly and for the first time in days the tears started to flow, “I got weeks Jackie. Death doesn’t scare me. That part is the easy bit. You made it look peaceful despite it all. Just want all the shit that happened to mean something. To be more than just a tragedy. Jack, I’m gonna get my hands dirty...really dirty. When I hit the other side, I expect a warm welcome.” Ending the call, she laid down on the couch. It was time to rest. Anything the night had to offer was better waiting until the morning, when the city didn't demand too steep a price.

\--

On the edge of the city V raised an arm and let the wind pass through her fingers. In the dying light, in the middle of nowhere, the shadows didn’t feel so heavy. God the first time Jackie had put her on the back of his bike she had screamed almost their entire ride. Not safe, too exposed, and too fast. Now she knew, V got it now. The ache in her head was almost a whisper, almost forgotten. Slowing down, she pulled off to the side of the road. Slowly and ever steady, the sun dipped behind the nearest peak. Yanking off her helmet, she took a moment to just breathe it in. Johnny simmered somewhere in the background, but seemed content to offer her this moment. It seemed he understood that this was something that was just hers.

“Hey man, just took a ride outside the city on the Arch. You would laugh in my face if you could see me now. Helmet and pads, but I get it now. You and I, we were caged birds. You were flying at the bars of yours. I was sitting comfortable in mine. Well you’re free now and I am starting to get a taste of mine. The wind on your skin, the joy, and rush of adrenaline. That is what life is. A bunch of moments where you can fly free. Well I am flying Jackie, and I am never going back. I love you, just wish you were here to see it,” V slipped a flask from the inside of her jacket and took a sip. Raising it, she saluted the sunset.

\--

V sat on the edge of the ledge, legs dangling. The sheer drop would have once made her stomach churn. Now it was as comfortable as dipping one's toes into warm water. Johnny danced at the edge of her vision. They weren’t friends, not really. In a way they were soulmates. Too much anger, rage, and abandonment bonded them together. He was killing her, that was undeniable. Yet there was a comfort in knowing that he hated the thought as much as her.

“I gotta ask,” He said and finally sat down next to her. His head tilted back as she took a long drag from her cigarette. At first he had bitched about the menthol flavor. Yet as time progressed their tastes had become more and more similar. She closed her contacts list, that taunting name no longer dangling in front of face.

“What’s up,” She questioned and laid down against the ground. Concrete and dust were surprisingly cold against her shoulder blades.

“Were you two fucking?” V blinked and raised up onto her elbows. Johnny was looking on expectantly and hungry for information. That was not a question she had ever thought he would ask, so far out of left field. “Because I have seen quite a bit of your brain and found nothing to explain him,” Johnny added. V laughed and gave him a sad smile.

“No Johnny, we weren’t fucking. We weren’t together,” She answered him and her voice quaked, “We were an almost in this timeline... and a maybe in another. But life didn’t put us on that path. Wasn’t in the cards for us. We got dealt a shit hand. I spent six months glued to him. We lived together, fought together, and lost together. Watched him love someone else. I was just lucky to have the parts of him that I got,” She rubbed the spot where the chip was jacked in. The copper taste was still fresh in her mouth and the drying blood on her neck was a not so distant memory. This city of chrome and neon had taken so much, so so much. 

“When we watch it burn, he’ll be smiling down at you.” Simple words had never meant so much.

**Author's Note:**

> While playing I found out you can call Jackie's phone after his death. V leaves these heartbreakingly sad messages. There is only a few options, so why not add more.


End file.
